Dypsis ambositrae

[freakypalmguy]

Picked this one up on my B-day. Supposedly the real deal. What do you guys and gals think? Real ambo?

Also, here are the other plants I bought me for my B-day

Dypsis onilahensis

Sabal yapa

[freakypalmguy]

Copernicia prunifera

Dioon tomasellii

Cycas cairnsiana and platyphylla

[BS Man about Palms]

Woo-hoo! Happy Birthday to ME! (I would say)

Yep, I agree on the D. A.

[osideterry]

Nice birthday.. you really scored! That looks alot like my ambo, and it is supposed to be the real deal also. Nice droopy onilahensis too.

Are you going to plant them this year, or possibly pump them up in the greenhouse for a year? I ask because I have an ambositrae and an onilahensis, both bought as oversized 1-gallons, and I'm thinking of waiting a year to plant. My greenhouse is seeing 80s and 90s everyday, and I'm curious about seeing how one year in their boosts them along.

[Jeff Searle]

Matt,

Your D.A. looks great, with the typical red spear pushing upwards. And the Sabal is already showing some blue, very nice. It looks like a godd birthday to me.

Jeff

[DoomsDave]

Happy B-Day to you, and that's a for-real D. ambositrae!

[freakypalmguy]

Bill, I was definitely singing that tune Thank you for the ID.

Terry, Thank you. I am definitely planting them this year so I can kill them quick That's actually not the plan, but you know what I mean I have around 200 palms, cycads, and agave/succulents I plan on putting in the ground this year, mostly one gallon size so it should make digging a lot easier.

Jeff, Thanks a bunch for the ID confirmation. Yeah, that Sabal really caught my eye with that blue. It was a Sabal that I was hoping to get, and was stoked when I spotted it.

[freakypalmguy]

Happy B-Day to you, and that's a for-real D. ambositrae!

Thank you Dave.

Both Dypsis are going up against my house in full sun on the south facing side so they should (fingers crossed) be fine at my place

[richnorm]

Looks like what I'm hoping is true ambo. Can you confirm that it does not have a heel/saxaphone? The RPS seed grows into a plant which has a heel and is known by some around here as "shambositrae". Still a great palm though whatever you call it!

cheers

R

[kristof p]

i have some seedlings i bought from ortanique last year. they are doeing great in my frostfree(sometimes barely) greenhouse and even have grown a bit during winter. looks like a palm that can handle long cool and humid conditions .

Matt, i dont know your climate but if it's mostly frostfree i think you wil not be able to kill it fast....

Edited March 1, 2009 by kristof p

[freakypalmguy]

Rich, I'll check in a bit for a heal.

Kristof, The only spot that is protected from my frost is up against my house, so that is where I will plant them.

Matt

[SunnyFl]

Your ambo looks great! And, although I see that the experts have confirmed it's real, I'll add that it definitely does NOT look at all like the fakey (which I have one of).

As for your Dypsis onilahensis - mmmmmmm, bodacious! I am truly envious!

And btw - happy birthday!

[JD in the OC]

D. onilahensis is one of my all time favorites!

[freakypalmguy]

Thank you SunnyFl. I was really excited when I found them.

That's a beauty JD.

I was showing my wife pics on Palm Talk and I came across SurferJr's D. onilahenis thread with Pogo's palm and Kim's habitat pics and she said, "Ooohhhh, I like that one". She has a great eye, so whenever she sees something that catches her eye, it is usually something good.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Copernicia prunifera

Dioon tomasellii

Cycas cairnsiana and platyphylla

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT! I plan on treating myself to some nice palms on my b-day next month too. There are some great sellers on eBay. I notice that at the time I'm writing this, you're at a nice toasty 85F in Temecula. It's 63F up here and pouring.

[freakypalmguy]

Looks like what I'm hoping is true ambo. Can you confirm that it does not have a heel/saxaphone? The RPS seed grows into a plant which has a heel and is known by some around here as "shambositrae". Still a great palm though whatever you call it!

cheers

R

Uh oh, I moved the dirt around the base of the palm and this is what I found. D. ambo's don't have a heel?

[Jim in Los Altos]

Looks like what I'm hoping is true ambo. Can you confirm that it does not have a heel/saxaphone? The RPS seed grows into a plant which has a heel and is known by some around here as "shambositrae". Still a great palm though whatever you call it!

cheers

R

Uh oh, I moved the dirt around the base of the palm and this is what I found. D. ambo's don't have a heel?

I hope that's not true, Matt. All mine have heals too.

[freakypalmguy]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT! I plan on treating myself to some nice palms on my b-day next month too. There are some great sellers on eBay. I notice that at the time I'm writing this, you're at a nice toasty 85F in Temecula. It's 63F up here and pouring.

Thank you Jim, it was actually last week, but I just got around to posting these pics. I wish I could send a little heat up to you northern guys. It has been a very nice weekend here. It looks like we may have some cold temps coming next week

[freakypalmguy]

And here is my other small one, it has a heel also ??

[osideterry]

I just checked, and my ambositrae has a heel just like your first one pictured. Dan Andersen sold it to me as the real thing, and BS man saw it and thought so as well. It's definitely not a fakey.

[doubravsky]

I have 4 that look just like yours... all have heels.

[BS Man about Palms]

Looks like what I'm hoping is true ambo. Can you confirm that it does not have a heel/saxaphone? The RPS seed grows into a plant which has a heel and is known by some around here as "shambositrae". Still a great palm though whatever you call it!

cheers

R

Uh oh, I moved the dirt around the base of the palm and this is what I found. D. ambo's don't have a heel?

I love the Dypsis and figure the ID's of SOME were pretty obvious by now, but the "heeled" Dypsis you pictured is what is now considered to be the "True ambositrae". It also will have generally a red spear and dark green leaves in the shade, and still be fairly green in bright sun eventually too.

[Tyrone]

If it has a heel it's real.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Alberto]

Looks like what I'm hoping is true ambo. Can you confirm that it does not have a heel/saxaphone? The RPS seed grows into a plant which has a heel and is known by some around here as "shambositrae". Still a great palm though whatever you call it!

cheers

R

Matt,you are being ´´good to yourself´´! You deserve it! Happy birthday!

SHAMBOSITRAE?????? Why shambositrae? Does real ambositrae grow a heel or not???????

[joe_OC]

Hey Matt,

Congrats on the new additions! I just got my first Sabal too... Your Sabal Yapa is SAWEET! I went with Sabal mauritiiformis because it was more petite of the two. With the size yard you have, you should get one of those too.

[Tyrone]

Real ambositrae HAS a heel.

[richnorm]

That set the cats amongst the pigeons! I have two plants which were bought as ambo and both fit the general description provided above. One is tillering and one is not. The tillering one is a relatively common but recent introduction and the seed is cheap on RPS. I have no personal view on this matter but have been told by a respected authority that this is "Shambositrae". I have seen one other of the non-tillering variety and was told that it was possibly the real ambo. So that's why I asked about the heel... I will post examples of each plant tomorrow.

cheers

R

[BS Man about Palms]

That set the cats amongst the pigeons! I have two plants which were bought as ambo and both fit the general description provided above. One is tillering and one is not. The tillering one is a relatively common but recent introduction and the seed is cheap on RPS. I have no personal view on this matter but have been told by a respected authority that this is "Shambositrae". I have seen one other of the non-tillering variety and was told that it was possibly the real ambo. So that's why I asked about the heel... I will post examples of each plant tomorrow.

cheers

R

Rich-

Its a possibility you are just now getting what we went thru about 2-3 years ago?

I am still sorta a "newbie" at this. (4-5 years at it) But when I started at this, there was a bit less "internet involvement" and the (now known as) "fakey ambositrae" was considered the true ambositrae. (It was very thin, almost chocolate in its appearance from a very early age and grew to a madagascarensis look. I believe it will shortly be named - Dypsis plumosa-) Anyway, it had the "true" name because some seed had come in as ambositrae that was turning out to be more baronii in its appearance, and the old -plumosa- was then considered to be the "true" one. That was fine until several people on this board went to Madagascar to collect seed from the TRUE ambositrae and took pictures of parent palm and some local seedlings.

THESE (the heeled variety shown above) are now the current "True D. ambositrae", many of which came into the market earlier as Dypsis onilahensis.

Make sense? At all?

[freakypalmguy]

Thanks everyone for the well wishes and the ID. I'm feeling confident that it is real ambo now.

Joe, I have one small S. mauritiiformis seedling that I have been nursing. It seams to be starting to gain some strength and speed. It's in a one gallon. I'm thinking of planting them near each other.

Matt

[freakypalmguy]

Since we are in the mood to I.D., here is another picture of my D. onilahensis with two other small plants I bought as D. onilahensis. One looks like it probably is as it has some of the white tomentum forming, but the other has a different look. What do you think?

Here is the three together

Here is the plant that has some tomentum, it is the one on the right in the above picture.

Here is the, dare I say, mystery dypsis It's on the left above.

[joe_OC]

Matt,

You should make a trip to see Louie Hooper in La Habra and get one of his upright Onnies...They are all second generation from his adult trees that are simply amazing. He is much further inland from the coast, so I think that his trees get more extreme weather and are more hardened. There would also be no doubt that they are Onnies...

[richnorm]

Pictures as promised. Colours are muted due to the flash. Hope I'm not hijaking the post! Any comments welcome to increase my meagre knowledge. Thanks for those thus far.

This is what I am hoping is real. It has no heal.

This is what some here call Shambositrae. It has a heal and is what RPS sell as ambo.

This is what I think BS may be talking about as fakey. We call it baronii var Kindreo

I have another palm from a stray seed in a large batch of shambo which is quite different again and extremely slow but cold tolerant.

[freakypalmguy]

Very nice plants Rich, not at all a hijack. The seller that I bought these from thought that Dr. Dransfield said that the real ambositrae had the closer leaf spacing like your second plant. Also, I don't think that the fakey suckers, but I could be wrong.

Whatever they are, you have some beauties Rich.

[MattyB]

Matt, your mystery Dypsis look similar to D. heteromorpha...a great looking plant. Check for heavier ramenta (on the undersides of the leaflets) near the rachis for confirmation.

[BS Man about Palms]

Rich-

Your second pic is what is now considered the "true ambositrae", not a sham. I have seen many of your 3rd pic identified as the same.

Your first pic appears to be the one that came in post "fakey/plumosa" so for a while the "fakey" was the "true" if you followed that. The one like yours also had the name "D. ambositrae 2" around here for a while. It is a very colorful palm I remember to be sure!

[richnorm]

Rich-

Your second pic is what is now considered the "true ambositrae", not a sham. I have seen many of your 3rd pic identified as the same.

Your first pic appears to be the one that came in post "fakey/plumosa" so for a while the "fakey" was the "true" if you followed that. The one like yours also had the name "D. ambositrae 2" around here for a while. It is a very colorful palm I remember to be sure!

Thanks BS..

So, to confirm, first pic is D ambo 2 which is not the same as fakey/plumosa and third is Kindreo, a form of baronii. Does D ambo 2 have a name yet?

The thing I struggle with having seen the documentary where Dr Dransfield rediscovers ambositrae in the wild is that True ambo seed is so readily available and so easy to grow. I got 100% germination and I think one seedling loss. Somehow this seems at odds with an extremely rare palm on the edge of extinction.

BTW the non-tillering one has produced a second stem in the manner of an onilahensis. I haven't seen the RPS ones split here yet. Do they split for you? Sorry if this is all old ground for you guys! cheers Richard

[BS Man about Palms]

You got it Rich!

I have not heard a name for D ambo 2 yet.

The rarity in habitat could be due to mass clearing? And I'm not sure if I remember right, but SOME palm from Madagascar I heard was considered rare for a while until a recent stand in another area was found, maybe the ambo is it?

[freakypalmguy]

Matt, your mystery Dypsis look similar to D. heteromorpha...a great looking plant. Check for heavier ramenta (on the undersides of the leaflets) near the rachis for confirmation.

Hi Matty, yes there is ramenta on the undersides near the rachis. Thank you for the ID.

[Dan OKeeffe]

Hey guys,

I just purchased a 5 gallon dypsis ambositrae that has turned out to be a fakey. How much coastal sun can these guys take?

Also, a couple years back I purchased a suckering Dypsis thought to be ambositrae too. I planted in full sun and about six months the two small trunks started to branch. I assume it is not ambositrae. What could it be? Mutation? Pics are below.

I purchased a baronii also from the same source and it is branching as well. Interesting! huh? Baronii pics later.

Thx

Dan

[Dan OKeeffe]

Any thoughts on this branching guy?